It is known that during run-time presentations of display images in a data processing system (e.g. a personal computer), an image zone ("trigger field") can be selected by a user moving a cursor to the field, under control of a mouse or keyboard keys Such trigger fields may correspond to displayed icons, portions of an image, areas around significant words, etc. Depending upon the user's selection of a trigger field, different program paths can be implemented, subroutines activated, or other processing functions controlled. For example, an icon of of a cat may lead to one story path, while an icon of a dog may lead to a different path. To enable this selectivity, the image must have the trigger field identified in advance so that the placement of a cursor therein enables the selection of the particular story path.
Characteristically, trigger fields are marked on the display so that the user knows where to move the cursor to make the selection. Of necessity, the trigger fields are kept relatively small so that the field demarcations do not occupy significant space on the display. This then requires the user to move the cursor, with some precision, to assure that the cursor overlaps the trigger field Cursor "overshoots" and "undershoots" are common and require time consuming adjustment by the user to assure proper cursor/trigger field alignment
Thus, for optimum user interaction, it is desirable to make trigger fields as large as possible, but then the image becomes cluttered This results in a larger problem when it is desired to have many trigger fields overlapping various portions of an image. For instance, if an image of an airplane is displayed, and it is desired to enable the user to select any of the main aircraft subassemblies, e.g. wings, tail, fuselage etc., and then display a blow-up image of the selected portion, the placement of visible trigger fields can significantly clutter the image and may obscure structural features.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a display with trigger fields which facilitate user selection.
It is another object of this invention to provide a display with trigger fields which do not clutter the image.